Canada Day in Wakefield

Happy Canada Day!

Well it's over now and my neighbourhood is beginning to feel back to normal. The Market was nuts yesterday!

I made an attempt to busk the entire day at the Market, first on my own and later with my singer-songwriter friend Kris Mullaly. Busking by myself in the morning went really well but in the afternoon, busking with Kris was a super frustrating experience. It had nothing to do with our playing together. That was a lot of fun. It had everything to do with the heat and the thousands of drunken individuals who ignored us as they passed by us. I just despise performing when noone's listening.

Kris and I called it quits after this drunken guy harassed Kris to play his guitar on two different occasions. At that point, we feared the safety of our instruments. It was at that point that I thought, "Fuck it, I'm going to the country." I knew Lindsay Ferguson was playing out in Wakefield and so Kris was kind enough to drive us both out there.

What a great time I had. We first went to see Lindsay perform at the Community Centre. She called me up for a few songs which was so much fun and a total surprise as I wasn't expecting to perform. The Wakefield audience loved her set, calling her up for two encores!

And then there were the fireworks. Wow, they were so beautiful. I haven't seen fireworks like that in a long time. And the coolest part of it all was seeing all the kids running around playing as well as the whole community cheering the whole time.

We then went off to a popular bar in town. Everyone was dancing and having fun times. I totally loved the vibe.

We also wandered over to the raft. The raft you ask? Yup, a bunch of Lindsay's friends had spent over a month building a two storey raft for Canada Day. It was pretty amazing! They were burning a beautiful campfire on it while I was hanging out on it. Apparently the whole community was excited about the raft project and encouraged the hardworking bunch to complete the project. Wakefield is such a special and creative place. I could feel so much love and support for Lindsay all around me that night. More communities need to encourage their artists in the same way.

And the night did not end there. The Fiftymen were playing at the Black Sheep. Everyone was dancing and there wasn't a person in the room who didn't have a huge smile on their face. Do I ever love hearing that band. Such energy and such a tight unit. I also love Jake Bryce's playing on the kit. I think he's one of my favourite Ottawa drummers.

And that was it. Since I had woken up at 7am to go busking, I was pretty wiped by the end of the night. Did my pillow ever feel amazing last night!

I hope you all had a really fun Canada Day!

Love Rozalind